Russian official: N Korea to test missile it thinks can reach US west coast

Reuters — Oct 6, 2017

TV screen at a Seoul railway station shows footage of North Korea’s latest launch. Click to enlarge

North Korea s preparing to test a long-range missile which it believes can reach the west coast of the United States, according to a Russian lawmaker who has just returned from a visit to Pyongyang.

Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee, and two other Russian lawmakers visited Pyongyang on October 2-6, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.

“They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile. They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the west coast of the United States,” Morozov said on Friday, according to RIA.

“As far as we understand, they intend to launch one more long-range missile in the near future. And in general, their mood is rather belligerent.“

Morozov’s comments drove up the price of US treasury bonds, as investors worried about the prospect of new North Korean missile tests moved into assets the market views as a safe haven in times of uncertainty.

Reuters was not able to independently verify Morozov’s account, and he did not specify which North Korean officials had given him the information about the planned test.

In Washington, a US official said that there had been indications that North Korea could be preparing for a missile test on or around 10 October, the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Korean Workers party.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not disclose the type of missile that could be tested and cautioned that North Korea in the past has not staged launches despite indications that it would.

A senior CIA analyst, speaking at a conference in Washington this week, said the North Korean government likely would stage some kind of provocation on 10 October but did not elaborate on what form it might take.

“There is a clarity of purpose in what [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un is doing. I don’t think he’s done,” said Yong Suk-lee, the deputy assistant director of the CIA’s Korea Mission Center, which was set up this year.

“In fact, I told my own staff [that] October 10th is the Korean Workers party founding day. That’s Tuesday in North Korea, but Monday – the Columbus Day holiday – in the United States. So stand by your phones.”

Morozov’s delegation had “high-level” meetings in Pyongyang, RIA news agency said, citing the Russian embassy in the North Korean capital.

Tensions over North Korea’s nuclear programme have been running high in the past several weeks since Pyongyang staged a series of missile tests, and conducted a test explosion on 3 September of what it said was a hydrogen bomb.

There has also been an exchange of tough rhetoric between Pyongyang and Washington.

“The situation, of course, demands the swiftest intervention of all interested states, particularly those represented in the region, in order to prevent wide-scale military action,” the agency quoted him as saying.

Russia has closer relations with Pyongyang than many other world powers, linked in part to Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea and the current leader’s grandfather, having lived for a time in the Soviet Union.

Vladimir Putin has joined other world powers in condemning North Korea’s weapons programme, but has taken a softer line than western governments.

Putin has said that Pyongyang will not be cowed into giving up its weapons programme. He has accused Washington of trying to effect regime change in North Korea and predicted that would unleash chaos.

US treasury prices surged on the report of a possible new missile test, pulling yields lower, as investors cut risk out of their portfolios and sought the safety of Treasuries. Treasury prices move inversely to their yields.